Denmark

Ørsted wind CEO steps down

DENMARK: The CEO of Danish developer Ørsted's wind power division Samuel Leupold has resigned from the company.

Samuel Leupold (above) will leave the company on 28 February

Martin Neubert, currently a senior vice president of the company’s wind division, will take up Leupold's role from 1 February.

Leupold will leave the company, after a handover period, on 28 February. Leupold has decided to "take a break and spend more time with his family", the developer said.

The company added Leupold had "commuted between his home in Switzerland and Ørsted’s offices in Copenhagen and London for the past couple of years".

Henrik Poulsen, the company’s president and CEO, said: "[Leupold's] relentless drive, sense of duty, strategic thinking, and professionalism have been vital to the development of Ørsted’s wind power business from a relatively new and immature business to a fully scaled and industrialised global leader in its field."

Leupold’s replacement, Neubert, has previously been responsible for strategic development of wind power, market and project development, as well as regulatory affairs.

He has also served as country chairman in Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and Taiwan.

He had previously served as head of group mergers and acquisitions (M&A), head of partnerships, and head of commercial transactions and market development.

Other changes

The company also appointed Anders Lindberg, senior vice president of its wind power engineering, procurement and construction, and Ole Kjems Sørensen, senior vice president of its wind power partnerships, M&A and asset management, to its executive committee effective from 1 February.

They will both serve as executive vice presidents, reflecting "the growing importance of (the company’s) wind power business", Ørsted stated.

Ørsted’s financial guidance for the financial year 2017 and the announced expected investment level for 2017 remains unchanged, the company added.

In November, it had announced its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) outlook for the year was between DKK 19 and 21 billion (€2.5-5-€2.82 billion).